One Step Forward: Redux
by Stephy825
Summary: I was one of the top predators around; they all recognized my dark blue skin and yellow eyes. But on that day when I saw something fall out of the sky, my instinct was telling me to find what it was...and to protect it at all costs. Yet...why?
1. First Step

**A/N : **Hi everyone...again! And yes, this is a sequel story to my other Dinosaur King fic 'One Step Forward'. It's not entirely necessary that you read the first one...first, but I think you can enjoy this story better if you do. For all my previous readers out there who reacted when seeing this title, oh yeah. I'm back with another DK fic~ (I hope this fic actually gets more reviews than the other one and I can finish this one faster. XD) So...yeah. Please review everyone~

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><p>First Step<p>

I licked my teeth as the taste of blood and fresh meat was on my tongue; giving me a feeling of satisfaction and contentment. I always enjoyed this feeling every time I finished a good meal; it was something I knew ever since I was born; yet at the same time something that astounded me to this day. I continued to bite on what was left of the Ankylosaurus' belly...or at least, I think it was an Ankylo. I don't really pay attention to species names. I just take note on which ones are easy to eat and what to avoid...oh, and which meats taste the best. Yeah.

I was about to take another mouth-full when I heard the roar of another predator nearby. It sounded like he was scavenging for food (he sounded hungry enough to be a cannibal.) Ah, T-Rex is back again to take my prize. I didn't mind, there wasn't much left of the corpse anyway; just some more bits of meat and bone.

Before I saw the other carnivore I took off in to a deeper part of the forest. My small size can come in handy sometimes because the trees in here are quite huge; it's easier to hide yourself in places like this. Jumping from one area to the next, I soon found myself in a large plain; very far away from the other huge meat-eater. I looked around and spotted a herd not far from where I was. Unfortunately they already saw me and started to move (I could see some of the older ones staying behind in case I would chase them.) I snorted; telling them that I had my share of food today and that they didn't needed to be alert of my presence. Of course they didn't believe me, yet after some time they finally turned their back and left to catch up with their family.

...I wonder what it's like to be protected by someone. Someone that's willing to give up his life for mine to be saved. It's a strange thing to think about; mostly all I care about is surviving. Trivial things like questions are always set aside. Yet I had some time with me; this place doesn't look like it belongs to anyone and I could use a short nap. If I were to be attacked while I was sleeping then whatever, it wasn't my first time getting a surprise attack.

I sighed as I settled down on the grass under the shade of one of the very few large trees that were scattered on this area; not an ideal place to hunt stealthily. The plain gives more of a relaxing feeling; it's like all dinosaurs could just sleep here and not worry if they are beside a predator or a herbivore. Ah, whatever, I'm exaggerating and thinking too much.

As I curled up and closed my eyes, my five-second sleep was interrupted by a sudden earthquake. A small one, but enough to shake a dinosaur and alert it. When I looked up, I couldn't believe my eyes. There was a bright beam of light; almost like a tower that came from the sky; up above the clouds. Is that even possible? Was I dreaming?

I blinked twice. The beam of light was still there.

Nope, I'm not dreaming.

I subconsciously stood up and started to run towards it; I mean c'mon, it was a light from the sky; who wouldn't want to see what came out of that? Or if there was something there in the first place. I dunno. All I thought of now was getting there; as close as possible (that thing could burn me if I got too near. Maybe it's a second big ball of fire like the one I see every day before it gets dark. Cool.)

Because there were so few trees around, I ended up stopping on a high hillside; watching as the beam seemed to fade in to nothing. Even if there weren't that many dinosaurs around (oh, there's a herd down there at the bottom part of the hill), I still wanted to stay hidden as much as possible. I crouched so low that my body was touching the grass; my dark blue skin shining under the sunlight. Finally, the magical beam thing disappeared completely...and there was something on the ground that seemed to be dead. Weirdly enough, nobody paid attention to what just happened; it was as if I was the only one that saw it or the only one that was curious. As I've said, weird.

I only realized now that the herd nearby was a Tricera one. I only noticed it because one of their young was wandering off; I chuckled, if I wasn't focused on discovering what just landed on the grass I would've gobbled up that hatchling in seconds. Meh, that Ankylo was good enough; I don't want to risk a mother Tricera trying to stab me with her horns because I ate here child. Yeesh. That's more of a last option kind of thing.

Trying to stay as silent as possible, I inched my way closer and closer to the mysterious object that fell from the sky. As I got nearer I noticed that it was...alive? Well its eyes were closed but it was breathing. So I guess it was alive.

...what's this feeling of relief I'm getting? It's so strange, when I look at the small creature on the ground; alive, unconscious with no injuries, I have the sudden urge to be happy; to jump on to him and cuddle with him and-

What am I thinking?

Out of the blue the creature opened its eyes and groaned. The little Tricera hatchling noticed it moving and walked towards it in a steady pace. The thing then pushed himself up and looked around; shock and confusion written all over its face. "Where is everybody?" it shouted. I now had the sudden urge to get even closer to it. My rational side said no, but my instinct was telling to do so.

My instinct won hands down and left my rational side in a small corner. I don't even know how that happened.

To my luck the new creature and the little dinosaur were having a staring contest; making it easy for me to sneak to them without being noticed. I was doing the same movement for a couple of minutes before I was finally close enough to touch with my nose. I stood up to stretch my legs; but that was a big mistake. My height casted a shadow on the ground below me, and while the Tricera fled before I stood up, it took a few moments for the other creature to register that I was in front of it.

And then it screamed.


	2. Second Step

Second Step

I'm not the type that gets surprised easily, but when that creature screamed I thought I almost jumped out of my skin. How I got caught so off guard I don't know; heck I could've killed it within a second by simply stepping on it; but I didn't.

While I was in a slight daze the thing stood up with its two legs and began to run away from me in fear. In instinct I ran after it, but not in my full speed. I had already mentioned before that I just had a meal; I still felt groggy and lazy so I decided to play along for now. The creature that came from the sky looked like (and was probably thinking) that I was going to eat it though. I didn't mind; I was a predator after all.

It was then I noticed that there was another herd nearby the Tricera one. Oh, more Ankylos...it ran toward that without hesitation instead of diving to the trees. Weird, but I still followed...

Until that little thing started a frenzy among the herbivores grazing there. Oh wait, that's probably because they saw me running to them. Haha.

Before long, I was lost in the groups of dinosaurs that ran away from me; carrying the weird creature with them. I groaned; I really wanted to know more about it...and then eat it to see how it would taste like. It was too bad; after the plant-eaters were out of sight, I turned away and was about to look for a place to sleep...

...for some reason, I couldn't help but glancing back. The sun was going down already? That was quick. I hope that thing didn't die while it was being carried away by the stampede.

Wait, why should I care? Since when did I care about someone or something dying? I mean, I cause a lot of deaths for other dinosaurs; what makes that small, insignificant creature different? This was starting to get more interesting indeed...

And so without a second thought, I secretly followed the herd while using the tall trees as my disguise. It wasn't before long that the group of herbivores calmed down and I was able to catch glimpses of the weird creature on one of them clearly. I had to be careful though not to get too close or else they might spot me and...that'll probably end up me being trampled/stabbed by an elder. Yeesh. Now that I was simply following them, I got a better look at the thing that came from the sky. It had yellow hair on his head (it didn't look like fur though) and blue eyes; lighter than the color of my skin. Its skin was pale, but majority of it was covered by some kind of...something. I dunno. For some reason it looked good on it; like I was used to seeing it...

There goes me sounding weird again. What is wrong with me?

I silently trailed the herd until they settled in a clearing that was close to a small lake. Some of the hatchlings started to run around excitedly; playing in the shallow waters and splashing around. The weird creature (I really need to give a name for it) climbed down from where it was and lay down on the grass; tired. It was night time now, yet I wasn't exhausted at all; the activity I just did today felt like nothing compared to those tense hunting times.

It wasn't before long that the thing fell asleep with one of the Tricera hatchlings beside it. Huh, they must've formed a temporary friendship or something. Eh. Most of the other dinosaurs were settling down to sleep too; if I wanted to get closer to it now's a pretty good time.

As stealthily as my feet could do, I went towards the herd with no problems; getting nearer and nearer when...

"_Predator_!" a voice echoed; one that sounded urgent. Oh great, there was a night guard up after all. There goes my plan for being sneaky.

Surprisingly, the other dinosaurs didn't wake up to the call; the ones that were already awake were the ones that were rampaging to me with their horns almost touching the ground. I took a step back and braced myself; waiting for the right moment to counter them. "..._now_!" while the Triceras were merely a few feet away from me, I quickly dodged to the left and headed down the hill. It took them a few seconds before they could make a turn and chase after me; but I didn't slow down, and moving left to right was easy for me. I took another turn at the opposite direction and headed straight for them with my mouth open; showing my teeth and hoping to at least let them slow down. They didn't; in fact they seemed to have gained some velocity. So I did the same thing, yet when we were about to collide, I made the biggest leap I could and bite their back; letting my teeth sink in their flesh. One thing that Triceras tend to forget is that their skin isn't so hard; it's actually pretty easy for other dinosaurs to scratch...or bite.

The herbivore I bit roared in pain and the others were scrambling close to it; trying to find a way to get me off while not hurting their kin. It continued to thrash around; attempting to shake me off. My bite just sunk in deeper and deeper though the more it struggled. The taste of blood made me feel rejuvenated and stronger.

Finally I released my grip and landed safely on the ground; my face covered in a red liquid. The Tricera I bit staggered back; dizzy and maybe traumatized. Oh c'mon, I only bit it once. This must've been its first time on watch duty. The other two dinosaurs looked really angry now; they lowered their horns and charged me to prove it. Without thinking I did the same thing I did a while ago; but this time I dodged again to the left and bit its side. I pulled on its flesh; trying to tear it off, yet it didn't work so I bit it again; letting my canines in another area. Over and over; my plan was to get the Tricera to bleed to death; it didn't look like this dinosaur was going to give up any time soon. And I was getting tired.

"Sorry guys, have to go now." I told them with a smirk before taking off to the trees in the darkness. The Triceras didn't bother pursuing me to my surprise; but I guess that would work in my favor.

I wasn't far in the grove I was hiding in before I heard another roar. It was a roar that I was familiar with; a roar that I grew up avoiding almost in instinct.

It's the T-Rex. And he's hungry.

-o-

I didn't sleep much last night to my annoyance; I even caught myself yawning every once in a while; but I was still watching them. Yeah, I was still watching that creature that came from the sky.

It was a miracle that it didn't get hurt or the fact that it seemed that it slept through that entire fiasco. A female Tricera (oh, it was the one I bit once last night) was talking to it along with the same hatchling that was tagging along with it. So, it does know how to speak how we speak after all. That's good; at least there won't be any problems when I ask it questions about where it came from and stuff.

Another thing that I was surprised about is the stunning lack of blood around the area. I was sure I heard the T-Rex before I left; so where were all the bodies? Maybe it failed to get some food and got chased away? Wow, unlucky much. It didn't look like most of them realized that there was an attack in the first place; they still looked pretty much tranquil and blah.

It was some time later that they started to move to another area and of course I followed behind. Again. This was starting to get really boring.

And when I get bored; I tend to find myself locked in arguments inside my head. _Let's stir up some chaos already and get the little thing! It's better than waiting here and doing nothing!_

_But what if they fight back and I end up killing myself in the process?_

_What? Since when did we cower back over anything? Let's just get in there!_

_And what if we kill what we were planning to get?_

_So?_

_..._

_See? Who cares about that? The thing-from-the-sky is simply a bonus prize. If we're lucky, we get it. If not, then it's dead. Doesn't matter._

_I guess so..._

_Do you agree?_

_...let's stir up some chaos!_

_Now we're talking!_

And so that's how I ended up roaring as loud as I could and charged right at them.

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><p><strong>AN : **Fail chapter is fail. I feel like I failed you all with a fail chapter that has redundant words that sound like fail and blah. Did you count how many times I used the word fail in the previous two sentences? Anyway, sorry for taking a while. Thank god I finished this before my dad told me to sleep early tonight.

Review please? Be patient for the Rex/Ace interaction later.


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